Getting our suppliers on board

The job of a tour operator specializing in holiday travel involves purchasing and assembling tourism services (accommodation, transportation, excursions, restaurants, etc.), often offered by third-party suppliers. Our sustainable tourism performance is therefore tied, in part, to that of our suppliers, which is why we take care to choose responsible companies and work closely with them to ensure that each one adopts industry best practices.

A task force made up of employees from various departments (Purchasing, Operations, Marketing, Communications and Legal) on both sides of the Atlantic is currently working on a sustainable supply policy for our tourism services, and are looking to implement an ongoing awareness and improvement program among our suppliers.

The program will be implemented in stages, over a number of years. Initially, we’ll be targeting the hotel sector and using a focus group to assess our approach. That’s why we’re currently conducting a pilot project with some 60 hotel operators among our main partners at sun destinations, as well as others in Canada and Europe.

Once the pilot project has been completed in two to three years, the program will be rolled out to all of our suppliers in the hotel sector. Following that, suppliers from other service categories will be incorporated into our ongoing improvement program.